One of the greatest compliments I ever received was from a black activist in Toxteth who said that I had become colour blind. In other words, I had become oblivious to the racial background of a human being I might be dealing with at the time. I think to some extent it was true; although I doubt there is any human being who is free from prejudice of one sort or another about social groups or racial types. All of us find ourselves stereotyping someone who we do not know because of their circumstances or racial background. If only we could get to know them we would understand their humanity and how we could relate to them properly. I also believe it is important to not view yourself as colour blind and this implies ignoring a history of racism and discrimination, we should acknowledge ethnic diversity, the histories that surround them and learn from our past, building a better future for all.
Racism is back on the political agenda with a vengeance. President Trump has raised it quite deliberately, probably on the advice of Steve Bannon, to try and goad the left wing in the US to overreach themselves to give him an advantage in his re-election. Us liberals (and I do not mind owning that word) find ourselves living in an alien world where values are in danger of being turned on their head. How could a President of the United States of America, a country of incomers including Trump and his various wives, start telling fellow citizens to ‘go back to where they have come from’? It is unbelievable language and the House of Representatives rightly named it for what it is - ‘racism’ and Trump himself a ‘racist’.
Our own main stream political parties are dogged by allegations of racism and are not covering themselves with glory in tackling the issues. Labour and Conservatives have deliberately opened their processes to democracy which has only had the effect of encouraging extremists to join their parties. For Labour this has seen the rise of Momentum, a pressure group which for me is reminiscent of Militant in Liverpool in the 1980s. The party, and in particular its leadership, are in the control of a group of people who have a certain view of Jews and Israel and their alleged malevolent place in economics and history. The anti-Semitic leanings of this group are clear but as they are in control, they are finding it impossible to deal with the issues. The situation goes from bad to worse and there seems no end in sight.
Meanwhile the Conservative party is beset with allegations of Islamophobia which it seems incapable of dealing with. In the televised leadership debate, Savid Javid bounced his fellow candidates to an unwilling acknowledgment that this needs to be tackled. Now it is clear that Boris will be the winner, the chances of this being dealt with in the foreseeable future seem remote. Added to this, the party is dominated by Brexiteers whose main concern about Europe was the influx of Immigrants. It is hard to deny that their leave campaign deliberately heightened xenophobic fears leading to the eventual vote to leave.
The fear is that racism will once again become acceptable in society. We all know it exists uncomfortably below the surface only to raise its ugly head from time to time. Remember the Euro Qualifier in Montenegro when Danny Rose and Raheem Sterling received open abuse from the terraces. Montenegro were fined and ordered to play their next game behind closed doors but Sterling himself has had to put up with much worse during his footballing career.
Anti-discrimination legislation and the Human Rights act are strong, but the resources to deal with commission of offences are thin. At Jackson Lees we will continue to play our part in fighting against discrimination at all levels and uphold the Human Rights of affected individuals. Kicking out racism from our society is even more necessary now to ensure that the forces which want to row back liberal values are held back. The trouble is that we will not know what we have got till suddenly it’s gone.